Vending machines are well known in the art. Generally they serve the purpose of selling snacks and beverages but can also be used to sell other items such as newspapers, etc. Item selection in a vending machine is performed by selecting the item using a user interface of the vending machine. The user interface of the vending machine generally contains push buttons for the user to choose the desired item. Generally, a central processor of the vending machine is responsible for the control and activities of said user interface. Most vending machines include a system for receiving payment for the particular article and for dispensing the article from the dispensing department to the merchandise removal area after such payment is received. After paying, the machine releases the product such that it falls in an open compartment at the bottom, or into a cup. The product may also become available by the unlocking of a door, drawer, turning of a knob etc. Sometimes the product is not just released but prepared. Most vending machines are operated by vending companies that offer a wide variety of services, however, companies producing beverages, also own and service a great number of vending machines.
A number of innovations have taken place over the decades in the vending machine business. We name some examples of innovations:                Improved bill and coin validation        Improved sense and feedback systems to verify that the vend was made        Remote monitoring of vending machines        Telemetry to transmit sales and inventory data to a remote location        Cashless vending allowing consumers to use debit cards        
Although efforts have been made to make vending machines more attractive to the public such as adding multimedia capabilities for simplifying the operation of the machine, increasing the user interactivity, and playing back audio-visual content on a screen, these have never been implemented on a wide scale basis in the majority of vending machines for dispensing beverages, candies or other items because of the high cost of integrating multimedia capabilities into a vending machine. Vending machines in accordance with prior art that have no graphical user interface and multimedia capabilities are hereinafter referred to as traditional vending machines.
There are vending machine solutions available on the market according to prior art that come with multimedia capabilities such as playing back audio-visual content. The audio-visual content is stored on a storage medium that can be read by a device present in the vending machine. In some configurations the audio-visual content can be updated with content from a remote location over a network connection. When these solutions provide additional multimedia features next to the playback of audio-visual content, e.g. a graphical user interface, and when interfacing with the vending machine is required, these solutions make use of a central processing unit connected to a number of devices: a combination of one or more input devices, and/or one or more output devices, and/or one or more storage devices, and/or one or more interfacing devices.
An input device is used to provide a means for user input such as item selection. The term user is known in the art and should be interpreted hereinafter as the customer being the operator of the input device. Examples of input devices are e.g. a keyboard, a mouse, a light pen, a touch screen, etc.
An output device is used to display audio/visual feedback to the customer. Examples of output devices are e.g. a computer monitor, a television screen, speakers, etc.
A storage device is used by the central processing unit to read/write digital information from/to a storage medium. Different types of storage media are available: flexible floppy discs, hard drives, CD(R), DVD, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RAM, memory stick, USB memory keys, etc.
People skilled in the art recognize that other types of input devices, output devices, storage devices and storage media exist.
In existing vending machine solutions that provide multimedia features such as the playback of audio-visual content and where multimedia content is stored on a DVD disc, a central processing unit is used in case 1) additional multimedia features are provided e.g. a graphical user interface OR in case 2) interfacing with the vending machine is required. When a central processing unit is in use, the central processing unit (computer or similar) uses a storage device (DVD drive or similar) to read the information stored on this DVD disc. A commonly used setup is a computer, connected to a DVD drive. Different types of interface connections are possible between a computer and a DVD drive, e.g. IDE, USB, Firewire, parallel, RS-232, etc. Another commonly used setup is a computer, connected to an industrial Laserdisc/DVD player through the serial RS-232 interface or similar.
In existing vending machine solutions that provide a graphical user interface to the customer, said graphical user interface is implemented by a computer program, set of instruction code or similar running on the central processing unit, other than the central processing unit of the DVD player. Input devices connected to the central processing unit provide a means for user input such as item selection. Output devices connected to the central processing unit are used to display audio-visual feedback to the customer.